Chapter 127 Intensive Training
More than 200 nautical miles away from the Great Wall of Despair, a fleet of more than 80 large ships is slowly sailing north towards the East Sea View.
They were the fleet of Shireen's father, Stannis.
When Stannis learned that Shireen had been sent away from Dragonstone, he did not blame Davos the Onion Knight; in fact, he felt somewhat grateful to him.
I am grateful to him for sparing me from making a painful decision.
After Melisandre saw the black dragon in the fire, she instructed Stannis to inquire about dragons from various sources.
I only found out that the descendants of Tangle in Slaver's Bay had hatched three dragons, one of which was a black dragon.
Upon receiving the news, Melisandre once again had Stannis ignite the Dark Servants. This time, she did not dare to spy on the Black Dragon, but instead told the Lord of Light about the Black Dragon's birth and the fact that she had been corrupted by it.
She also received a response from the Lord of Light, who ordered her to deal with the black dragon. Melisandre did not expect that the threat from the black dragon would be even stronger than the White Walkers on the side of the God of Cold.
She told Stannis the oracle, but Stannis was unwilling to cross the Narrow Sea to attack Slaver's Bay, which was thousands of miles away.
Of the three false kings, only Joffrey and Balon died, Robb escaped, and Stannis no longer fully believed in the Lord of Light whom Melisandre worshipped.
He heeded the advice of Davos the Onion Knight and did what a king should do: head north to the Wall and help the Night's Watch fight the White Walkers.
Stannis was severely short of troops after the Battle of King's Landing, and of course, he still had plans to recruit wildlings for his own use.
Melisandre had no choice but to continue following Stannis, hoping he would change his mind and once again devoutly worship the Lord of Light.
...
Inside the room, Daenerys was reviewing Tyrion's report on the farming situation in Meereen when her maid, Kitty, suddenly burst in, flustered, saying, "Khalise, the Unsullied are going to train Rhego and Viserion with ballistae! You'd better go and see!"
"What! Where?" Upon hearing that she was to use a ballista to shoot the dragon, Daenerys immediately tensed up and jumped up from her seat.
"It's on that barren land south of the city, and Drogon is there too," Kitty said as she led Daenerys out the door.
"Is Drogon really using ballistae to train Rhaegal and the others?" Daenerys, who had just come to her senses, hadn't expected that Drogon's words that day weren't a joke, but that he really intended to use the ballistae that Geese had brought for dragon training.
But what if Rhego and the others actually get hit? And the ones operating the ballistae are those rigid, inflexible Unsullied. Daenerys was terrified just thinking about it.
He had the horses prepared and, with Ji Qi in tow, headed south towards the sky where Rego and the others were circling.
In the sky, Viserion flapped its wings nervously, its eyes fixed on the long, giant crossbow on the ground.
He was circling freely in the sky when a thick, long arrow suddenly flew past him, startling him.
He was about to go down and burn the weapon that had attacked him when he suddenly saw his boss looking at him next to the weapon, and immediately understood why he had been attacked.
He didn't expect that the boss wouldn't personally train them this time, but instead used crossbows.
He was hit by a spear during the last battle to defend Yuankai City. Although it was due to carelessness, it made him realize the power of such long weapons.
Just as he was waiting in the air, he suddenly saw a black dot flying towards him at high speed. Startled, he hurriedly flapped his wings and dodged to the side.
Watching the arrow whistling past, and then glancing at Drogon not far away, Viserion felt much more at ease.
The arrow that just shot didn't seem to be that fast; it didn't even seem to match the speed at which the boss usually ambushed them.
Having dodged the first crossbow bolt, Viserion's confidence soared, and his wings flapped less stiffly as he awaited the next bolt.
He had just dodged the second crossbow bolt when Daenerys rode up to the ballista. Just as he was about to fly down, he sensed Drogon's murderous aura from fifty meters away. He glanced timidly at Drogon and remained where he was, not daring to move.
Seeing the two shadows, one large and one small, in the sky, Daenerys felt a little relieved. Although Viserion was being trained with ballistae, with Drogon watching over him, even if Viserion failed to dodge the bolts, Drogon shouldn't have been seriously injured.
Seeing Daenerys riding up to them with a look of urgency, the two Unsullied operating the ballistae glanced at her with some concern and dared not continue aiming at Viserion.
They also knew that training Rhaegal and Viserion with ballistae was without Queen Daenerys's permission, and that being seen by her now could result in punishment.
However, when Drogon grabbed the ballista and gestured for them to follow him out of the city, they did not dare to refuse. Unexpectedly, after leaving the city, they were asked to use the ballista to shoot the two dragons, Rego.
Although the first arrow was deliberately shot off target, it still gave them a fright. They had only just learned how to operate the crossbow, and if they had accidentally hit the golden dragon and killed or injured it, the queen would definitely have killed them.
Although they were not afraid of death, they did not want to be executed for wounding the queen's dragon.
Fortunately, the worst-case scenario didn't happen. From the moment the shooting began, the black dragon Drogon was watching the golden dragon from a distance.
They had witnessed the black dragon's terrifying speed and defensive capabilities after its transformation, and only with him protecting the golden dragon did they dare to operate the ballistae with peace of mind.
Knowing that Drogon was there to protect her, Daenerys gradually felt relieved. She also wanted to see how Viserion and the others fared in their training against the ballistae. After waiting for a minute and seeing that none of the three Unsullied had fired, she realized that they were afraid of her and dared not continue firing the crossbow bolts.
Daenerys knew perfectly well that Drogon had the Unsullied train Viserion and his men with ballistae, so she naturally wouldn't blame them.
After giving them an order, the three Unsullied continued to rotate their ballistae, aiming at Viserion in the sky.
Hearing the ballista turning again in the distance, Viserion braced himself, ready to dodge the incoming bolts at any moment.
Whoosh!
A giant crossbow bolt shot out from the chute, and Daenerys' heart jumped. Despite Drogon's protection, it was still the most lethal crossbow bolt against dragons, and Viserion was not yet fully grown. Daenerys was still very worried about him getting hurt.
Having learned from his experience of dodging the first two arrows, Viserion simply raised his wing to dodge the rapidly approaching crossbow bolt this time, much to Daenerys' delight. She and Kitty clapped and cheered on Viserion from the ground.
Drogon, watching from the air, nodded slightly in approval of Viserion's performance, acknowledging that his efforts in training them had not been in vain.
With his own rapid training method, as long as Viserion doesn't act as arrogantly as he did during the last Battle of Yunkai, he should be able to dodge the ballista attacks if he's careful.
Moreover, they are not yet fully grown, and their strength and speed are far from sufficient. It is already very difficult for them to achieve what they have achieved so far.
After testing Viserion a few more times while it was almost stationary, Drogon made it circle back and forth above the ballista like it was courting death, ready to be fired at any moment.